What's your Smash Factor? Highest you've seen?

[HISPL]

I regularly get customers with a smash factor of 1.51 and the best I have seen is 1.53

A super low lofted driver that imparts a blow on the ball that is not a "glancing" blow stuck solidly on the club face will give you a high smash factor.

[vtnerf]

Did you have impact tape on the clubface? (See flyer out of the rough...)
That could explain a higher than 1.5 (or 1.494) factor.

And, some of the monitors allow you to add a factor to the numbers, so they could be a [i]little[/i] inflated.

[xmanhockey7]

For me probably 1.5-1.51 being the highest. We had a couple pros where I worked that would on their "bad shots" obtain a 1.49-1.5. I didn't freaking understand how their bad shots were that high but it is what it is. I'd have 20 handicaps come in for IRON fittings and see them obtain 1.5 smash factors. The highest I ever saw was a 1.53 from a 13 year old in our golf camp that was not a good player at all. When we told him how that was the best number we'd ever seen he was pretty excited about it.

[Mikey Town]

Pre-GolfWRX, my smash factor was around 1.48.



Now, it's 1.48 MILLION... POOOOOOOOWWW!!!!!!

[QuigleyDU]

Just so I'm on the same page we are talking about breath-a-lizer test results right??

[Ajlepisto]

My smash factor with my lob wedges is about 1,500

In fact, I'm the reason why they are making courses longer and people want to dial down the balls. Golf can't handle me.

[DigDugDig]

1.5 + 17

Smash Factor-ier.

[ucdan5]

I'm concerned with my fitting now on a Trackman. I was around 1.48 with driver and 3W with a couple at 1.51 and 1.52. It was about 2 months ago and I have only been to the range once or twice before that, so striping the ball I was not.

Are the fitters able to play with the settings, tweak a doo-hickey here or there to make it seem like you're hitting the ball 17 yards-ier further-ier? I don't know much about fitting and I felt the clubs I had weren't as good as the ones I was fit for, but now I'm not 100% sold.

[R Hagan]

I hit 1.54 once a few years ago. Usually somewhere in the 1.4's is where I fall.

[jokerusn]

Best I've seen is a 171mph ball speed and 1.5 sf. Swing speed was somewhere around 115+\-.

[HISPL]

[quote name='ucdan5' timestamp='1364602916' post='6723149']
I'm concerned with my fitting now on a Trackman. I was around 1.48 with driver and 3W with a couple at 1.51 and 1.52. It was about 2 months ago and I have only been to the range once or twice before that, so striping the ball I was not.

Are the fitters able to play with the settings, tweak a doo-hickey here or there to make it seem like you're hitting the ball 17 yards-ier further-ier? I don't know much about fitting and I felt the clubs I had weren't as good as the ones I was fit for, but now I'm not 100% sold.
[/quote]

Trackman doesn't allow you to "tweak" any settings that would change smash factor, ball speed, spin rate or club head speed readings.

The ONLY things that you can change are the "firmness" of the virtual fairway which will change the roll out and "normalization" which corrects for hitting on a range that is either on a downslope or upslope, basically it calculates as if the fairway was flat.

If you hit the ball with low dynamic loft and hit the ball solidly on the face it is possible to have a very high smash factor.

Long drivers have super high smash factors when they hit the ball solidly due to the fact that they are aiming to hit the ball with as small a "spin loft" as possible.

You see smash factor drop when you use higher lofted clubs due to the more "glancing" blow applied to the ball and the same applies to drivers.

So a low dynamic loft and a solid strike can result in very high smash factor readings, especially when the player has a high swing speed and can take advantage of the cup face/VFT of a modern driver.

[mandudebro]

Crazy how many of us hit it better than Touring professionals. At Dick's Sporting Goods at that! We're awesome.

[Howard_Jones]

The answer is where on the face was the impact

http://peecee.dk/upload/view/402246

Pay attention to the numbers on that club face
- Trackman is measuring CENTER face speed, in this case 100 Mph
3/4 out aginst the toe, TRUE club speed is 102.7
Thats how PTR READING can pas 1.50, but it did not

Here is what really went down - actual PTR is lower than 1.50
http://peecee.dk/upload/view/406201

[thatboygaule]

mine is about 1.38 - 1.40

[HISPL]

Ah yes, a very good point Howard!

I will bow to your experience, but do you think my theory is correct?

I am purely looking at it from a "common sense" perspective based on the physics involved.

[Shaftology]

While in theory, the highest smash factor is 1.50, I have been using TrackMan since 2006 and have seen smash factors as high as 1.63. In this case I was testing the Cleveland HiBore XL 10.5 degree driver which was quickly deemed illegal and recalled until all of them were tested. TrackMan recently has shown that smash factors over 1.50 do NOT meant the club is necessarily exceeding COR limits. It it pretty typical now to see smash factors in the 1.52-1.54 range. In my fittings I try to maximize smash factor as a way of getting the golfer to get the most out of their club speed. Remember, on a driver, for a 100 mph center hit swing speed, you will lose at least 2 mph hitting on the heel and gain 2 mph hitting on the toe. Trackman measures swing speed as if you are hitting on the center of the face so smash factor can vary based upon the "sweet spot" of the club as well.

[pinhigh27]

[quote name='Howard Jones' timestamp='1364631290' post='6724831']
The answer is where on the face was the impact

[url="http://peecee.dk/upload/view/402246"]http://peecee.dk/upload/view/402246[/url]

Pay attention to the numbers on that club face
- Trackman is measuring CENTER face speed, in this case 100 Mph
3/4 out aginst the toe, TRUE club speed is 102.7
Thats how PTR READING can pas 1.50, but it did not

Here is what really went down - actual PTR is lower than 1.50
[url="http://peecee.dk/upload/view/406201"]http://peecee.dk/upload/view/406201[/url]
[/quote]

This. HIGHER THAN 1.50 is NOT ACTUALLY POSSIBLE. Sure the machine can read higher than 1.50, that doesn't mean its actually achieved.

[gvogel]

I went on a launch monitor last fall with my new 913D2 to compare it against my 910D2, and I was getting 1.49, 1.5, and I even go one at 1.51. I may not be very long (240 ish), but I am very efficient!

[pccasstpro]

When I was last fit I was averaging 1.47 on a Trackman. But my spin was around 2,000 and a launch at 11* , CH speed 115 MPH, Ball speed 170 MPH.

[bmos21]

Just got back from the Trackman fitting, avg swing speed w/driver(Nike vr pro ltd-8.5, pro launch red 66g/S, 44.75in) was 108.7, carry was 272, smash was 1.53, I had a couple register at 1.56-1.58, the fitter explained to me that it has to do with how square you stike the ball. A ratio of swing speed to ballspeed. example 108/161 should be a smach of 1.46. You can have a 95mph swing speed and get 1.5 smash factor.

[ThirdCut]

The point about the toe of the club moving faster than the center of the club face brings up an interesting point... if a club maker could position the sweet spot of the club more out towards the toe, that would promote faster ball speeds for the same swing, even marginally. Now obviously that would probably be physically impossible to design a conventional looking club this way, but it would be interesting to see...




......or they could just make longer shafts

[mayes]

[quote name='Stretch' timestamp='1360262068' post='6382101']
Couple of reasons you can see > 1.50 smash factor readings on a good launch monitor.

-- Normal production tolerances on the clubs mean there are always going to be some "slightly hot heads".

-- Normal accuracy limitations of the monitor mean you are always going to get some outlier readings. TrackMan's stated absolute accuracy is plus or minus 1.5 mph within a 95% confidence interval for club and ball speed. So let's say it misreads just a little low on the club and just a little high on the ball on the same shot, suddenly you're at 1.52.

[b]-- Toe side of the club face is traveling faster than the center of gravity of the club head, which is what TrackMan is, um, tracking -- because the face is also closing through impact . If you hit it just slightly towards the toe (like 1/8 inch), the ball speed gain from that point of contact will outweigh the ball speed loss from the COR diminishing as you leave the center of the face. This will produce a legit power transfer of over 1.5.[/b]

What's important is the consistency of your readings, not the absolute values. I hit 12 shots on a FlightScope X2 today working on something and the lowest reading was 1.48 and the highest was 1.51. Average was 1.49. I can look at that and know I don't have contact issues or a dud driver. Other issues, brother I got plenty.
[/quote]

Stretch is on point here with the bold part being the most significant. Basically the amount of toe rotation can increase SF. A lot of long drive competitors can vouch for this. It also helps explain Bubba Watson's and other players who heavily rotate the face and have readings greater than theoretical max of 1.5.

[onetime19]

My SF is usually around 1.47 to 1.48 on TM.I had a fitting a month ago where the fitter said " I don't see this vey often" so I figured he was talking about my incredible physique or my drop dead good looks. But alas he said my SF was 1.56 so I walked out right then and apprised him that I am a WRX member, nuff said!

[QuigleyDU]

I have heard that the higher the swing speed the harder it is to get to 1.5. True?

[Bingo1976]

Just back from a lesson - managed 1.53 with a 6 iron at about 82mph club head speed. Nothing else in the numbers to suggest trackman was incorrect. My pro looked confused and impressed!

[SHIVAN]

Smash factor is a calculation. Calculations can have error. I would bet that Trackman and Flightscope measure ballspeed pretty accurately. I like ballspeed #'s as I know my swing is pretty consistent with the same club over a shot string of 10 shots.

If my ballspeed jumps, then I know I am getting good contact, and have a club/shaft/ball that is matching for my swings.

[TomWishon]

[quote name='QuigleyDU' timestamp='1370647210' post='7192438']
I have heard that the higher the swing speed the harder it is to get to 1.5. True?
[/quote]

No, not true at all. Clubhead speed has nothing to do with what the smash factor can be. A 60mph swing speed can achieve a 1.49 smash factor just like a 140mph clubhead speed can. it's a matter of COR of the head + point of impact on the face + loft of the head with a tiny, tiny bit of influence from the mass of the clubhead.

TOM

[shootstill]

I've fallen between 1.45-1.49 as long as I can remember.

[Tread]

From my most recent fitting all my drives were in the 1.44-1.46 range. I need to up my game

[ndredhd]

I had a very detailed fitting last night at Club Champion that had me testing a new driver head and multiple shafts against my current driver set up in addition to getting numbers on my current 6 iron.

I don't claim to know any "SF" details, I'm just reporting what was recorded.

I'm not a very long hitter, but believe I'm longer than most of my peers. (I speak in real numbers) I'm 45 years old, holding a 3 handicap.

Trackman was used for the fitting.

Average driver swing speed using 5 different driver/shaft combinations... 95.6 mph
Average carry distance ...240.1 yds.
Average total distance ... 268.9 yds.
Average SMASH FACTOR 1.52

The fitter said that he rarely sees SF numbers that high...

Decipher what you will...I'm just reporting the given numbers.

(My average SF on my 6 iron was also 1.52 with an 82 mph swing)